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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l. J. STEPHENSON.

GAR BODY TRUSS Patented May 12,1885.

(No Model!) I F 2 Sheets-Sheen 2.

J. STEPHENS-ON.

OAR BODY TRUSS.

No. 317,683. Patented May 12, 18 85.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CAR-BODY Tauss.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,683, dated May 12, 1885.

Application filed July 16, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN STEPHENSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Body Trusses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in what are termed summer cars, where the upper portion or side walls of the car have no material bracing effect upon the ends of body and platforms. 7

My invention consists in combining with the sills of such cars, or with any car in which the platform is liable to sink under the weight applied at the ends, a continuous truss or girder secured beneath. but independent of the sill, so as to impart great rigidity to the latter, but without interfering with the ready detachment of the wheels, boxes, springs, &c.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side View of the sill of a tram-car with my improved girder, one of the pedestals being in section. Fig. 2 is a side view in part section, enlarged, of one of the pedestals; Fig. 3, a similar view of the other pedestal, showing a modification. Fig. at is an inverted plan view of Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are part-sectional views illustrating different modes of forming and connecting the strut-bearings.

Tram-cars open at the sides are of weak form, permitting the ends to droop and the frame to be distorted. Various methods of strengthening have been used, though with but partial success, and complicating difficulties in removal ofaxle-boxes, axles, wheels, 850.

My invention is a construction of light weight, positive firmness, and free from complication. I place a strap of iron beneath each car-sill, preferably of less length than the sill, the ends of the plates bent at right angles, forming abutments for the sockets which receive the adjustable ends of the truss-struts. These ends have screw-threads and nuts for adjustment. The other or eye ends of the strut are received into the strut-chambers at the foot of the car-pedestals, and there secured by a transverse bolt passing through the eye of the strut and through the two Walls of the strut-chamber. On the opposite or central faces of the pedestals a stay-bar intervenes, with its eye ends lodging in staychambers, and secured by transverse bolts holding the pedestalsin fixed distance. The stay-bar and strut-braces are preferably of spar shape, because of great stiffness with least weight. The front and rear walls of the pedestals are connected at the foot by unionbars, which on their outer faces carry staychambers, with side walls extending downward, revealing their edges below the pedestals jaws. The two reveals in opposition are wider apart at their outer ends, constituting stops or abutments for the wedge-bar, permitting it to enter freely and tighten as it is brought home by the vertical fastening-bolts. Thus the strut-brace pressure is prevented from closing or contracting the opening of the jaws. The pedestals are secured in their location by vertical fastening-bolts through sill, plate, and bed-plate of pedestal, and the strutsockets are secured by like bolts through sill, plate, and sockets. The sills A extend along the sides of the car, as usual, and support the ordinary seats, standards, and top. The pedestals B are suitably bolted to the sills in their usual positions, and the boxes G play between the jaws of the pedestals in theordinary manner. The sinking of the ends of the sillis prevented by forming a truss below and independent of the sill, and comprising the pedestals, strut-sockets or their equivalents, struts,

stay-bar, and an upper member underlying the sill. The upper member, as shown in Figs. 1, 5, and 6, is a strap, a, about the width of the sill, and which extends nearly the entire length of the same, and is provided at the ends with bearings 1), preferably formed by bending down the ends of the strap, as shown, and serving as abutments for the strut-sockets D, which are clamped to the under side of the straps by means of bolts 15, passing through the straps, the sills, and the strut-sockets.

The ends of the struts E extendinto semispherical bearings J, fitting circular seats a formed in the strut-sockets, and are threaded to receive nuts K, as shown. The opposite ends of the struts. are provided with eyes, which fit in chambers formed between lugs d upon union-bars m, connecting the front and rear walls a n of the pedestals, and are secured in position therein by means of transverse bolts 6, Any other suitable connection between the strut and the pedestal may be employed. The pedestals are connected together by means of the stay-bar F, which has at each end an eye adapted to fit a stay-chamber between lugs cl, and secured by bolts 0, or otherwise. The stay-bar and struts are preferably of spar shape to secure greater stiffness with less weight. Each pedestal is braced by means of a bar, H, which I term a wed ge-bar, connected at its ends detachably to the pedestal and bent downward at the center, so asto allow ample room for the play of the box between the jaws of the pedestal, and constituting, in fact, a bridge between the stay-bar and the strut, so that there is a brace between the two opposite strut-sockets D D, consisting of the struts E E, the staybar F, and the wedge-bars H, which brace, so long as the strut-sockets are held firmly in connection with the sill, effectually prevents the sinking of the ends of the sill. The retention of the strut-sockets in their places depends upon the upper member of the girder, to which they are securely bolted. In some instances the bolts t 2? may serve to prevent any movement of the boxes in respect to said upper member; but the lips or bearings b constitute most efficient means of preventing said sockets from sliding under the strains brought against them, and maintain the integrity of the girder.

Although greaterstrength and durability is secured by the use of the strap with the bearings at the ends, the bolts 15 may constitute the bearin gs in connection with the strap, as shown in Fig. 5, and in some instances where it is not desirable to use the fixed strutsockets the struts may have their bearings in eyes formed upon the bolts t, as shown in Fig. 6. In either case there is a girder consisting of the strap, pedestals, stay-bar, struts, and wedge-bars H. The girder may be stiffened by turning the nuts K so as to set up the ends of the sills; and in order to prevent the pressure and strain upon the girder from bringing together the jaws of the pedestals, which may result if there is any lost motion or play play or lost motion and no springing together of the jaws of the pedestals from pressure upon the ends of the sills. If desired, however, the ends of the wedge-bars and the bearings may be vertical, as shown in Fig. 2, and the ends of the wedge-bars may bear directly against the ends of the struts and bar F. Additional bearings are secured by forming the wedge-bars H with lips or lugs a, which fitagainst corresponding bearing-edges w of the union-bars m of the pedestal, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. By means of this girder, which is light in weight and inexpensive in construction,the sill is most effectively braced and strengthened without interfering in the least with the ready detachment of the boxes or axles, inasmuch as it is only necessary to remove the wedge-bars H to permit the boxes to'pass freely from between the jaws of the pedestals.

I do not claim any parts herein illustrated and claimed in an application for Letters Patent bearing even date herewith, and bearing Serial No. 137 ,9041.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown, I claim- 1. A tram-car having beneath each of its side sills an independent truss complete in itself, but attached to the sills and holding the car-body from drooping at its ends, substantially as described.

2. A tram-car having beneath each of its side sills a plate with its ends forming abutments for the strut-braces of the supportingtruss, as and for the purposes set forth.

3. A tram-car having beneath its sill plates through which pass the bolts holding the strutsockets in fixed distance, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. Atram-car with sill-plate through which are bolts holding the pedestals in fixed position, as and for the purposes set forth.

5. A tram-car with a sill-plate through which the fastening-bolts pass and hold the pedestals and sockets in adjustment, as and for the purposes set forth.

6. A tram-ear having sill-plates holdingin place the strut-sockets with their strutbraces, as and for the purposes set forth.

7. A tram-car with sill-plates through which pass fastening-bolts holding strutsockets in which are strut-braces with their lower ends secured in pedestals, as and for the purposes set forth.

8. A tram-car with sill-plate holding strutsockets in which are the upper ends of strutbraces with their lower ends lodged in pedestals coupled by a stay-bar, the ends of which are lodged in chambers on the union-bars of the pedestal, as and for the purposes set forth.

9. A tram-car with a sill-plate holding strut-boxes and struts with their lower ends fast in the pedestals, and wedge-bars crossing the jaws of the pedestals, with the ends of the wedge-bars abutting against stops or shoulders on the union-bars of pedestals, as and for the purposes set forth.

10. A tram-car with its body supported by an independent truss, the upper chord of which truss is a plate extending the length of the truss and holding at each end a strutsocket, the lower chord between the strutsockets, consisting of a strut-stay to each socket, with the stay-feet in union-bar chambers of pedestals coupled by stay-bars with open jaws of pedestal, the ends of the wedgebar abutting against stops on the union-bar of pedestal, as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my 15 name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN STEPHENSON.

Witnesses:

' S. A. STEPHENSON, WM. J. WALKER. 

